Eye of the Storm
by ihaznoideawuttowrite
Summary: The last we saw of Cap'n Jack Sparrow, he was walking off into the sunset with Gibbs. This story picks up a little bit after that. My first fic, so please be nice and review. Constructive criticism appreciated, those who give it get virtual cookies!
1. Lost?

Disclaimer: "Borrowed. With every intention of giving it back." NOT.

AN: My first fanfiction, please be nice! Thanks to my best friend and all of you out there reading this!

Chapter 1- Lost?

BOOM! BOOM! _CRAAAAAACK!_ Two men scurried around the deck of the _Lady Shell_, trying to keep the mast from falling. Before either of them could stop it, it did. In their rush to keep the mast from falling, they had left the rudder unattended. Oops. The sloop crashed into a reef, creating a massive hole in the hull and forcing both its passengers to grab a piece of the wreckage and jump off the sinking vessel.

Jack woke up half buried in the sand, still clutching the piece of driftwood that had kept him alive. Fighting back the urge to throw up, he staggered to his feet. Miraculously, he still had his 'effects' as he liked to refer to them: his hat, sword, and pistol. Looking around, he saw what was left of the small sloop he had commandeered with his friend and first mate, Joshamee Gibbs. _Gibbs_, he thought. _Where is he? And the Pearl?_ What had become of his beloved ship, now shrunk and trapped inside a bottle with a tiny storm? Panicking and cursing in several different languages, not the least being English, he scoured the sands for the bottle. It was only after painstaking searching that he found the once-majestic black galleon trapped in its bottle. _Phew_, Jack thought. _It's still in one piece. Now if only I could find that bloody first mate of mine…._ His thoughts trailed off as he looked up to see a dazed man with muttonchops stagger across the sands. "Gibbs! Still in one piece, I see! How are you, mate?"

The man stopped and squinted. "Jack! You survived!"

"You may kill me, but you may never insult me. Who am I?"

"I know who ye are, lad. You're Captain Jack Sparrow."

"Don't 'lad' me, you insubordinate blaggard."

"At my age, you all look like lads. Where's the _Pearl_?"

"Right here." Jack patted the bottle strapped to his belt. "Did you see what's left of the sloop? Utterly ruined, mate."

"That's beside the point, Cap'n. Where are we?"

"I believe we are somewhere near Shipwreck Cove."

"Looks more like Tortuga to me."

"I don't bloody well care. I've got me compass, 'member?"

"Oh yeh..."

Jack flipped his compass open. The red arrow spun like crazy for a few seconds, then focused onto one direction. Looking that way, all he saw was the open beach and the Black Pearl in its bottle.

"No good. Compass is stuck on the _Pearl_. Have a try at it."

Gibbs took the compass and it immediately focused on a point.

"'S pointing south-north-west, sir."

"Seems you know what you want. What is it?"

"A good drink."

"Your hip flask is empty?"

"Empty, Cap'n."

"Oh", said Jack, crestfallen. "At least there's usually a person where there's rum."

The pair headed off into the horizon.

Dusk found them on the outskirts of Shipwreck Cove. Marching along, they made occasional inquiries as to location. Having ascertained his whereabouts, Jack decided to visit his father. Turning around, he said to Gibbs, "I'm going to visit the old captain. You can do wha'e'er you want, but tomorrow meet me at the Drunken Lady. I take you know where it is?"

"Aye, Cap'n. Thankee kindly, Cap'n."

They separated, Gibbs heading for the nearest pub, and Jack for the back alleyways of Shipwreck City.

Jack knocked on the door and shouted, "Oi, Da, it's me, Jack!"

The door creaked open, revealing an old man that resembled Jack in almost every way (Or Jack resembled him, but I digress). "Jackie! What're you doing here? You've never been one to visit folks!"

Jack shrugged. "Change of mind? Really, it's the _Pearl_ I've come for."

"The _Pearl_? I thought Barbossa had it."

"He did. Blackbeard commandeered it, turned it to the size of a vertically challenged squirrel, and stuffed it in a bottle with a storm. Savvy?"

"Eh? Come in, though, Jackie. Not good to be standing in the streets at this hour."

"Thanks, Dad."

They sat down at a table gilded with precious metals and inlaid with valuable stones. Captain Teague spoke first. "Show me the _Pearl_," he commanded.

Jack obligingly took the _Pearl_ from its position at his belt and set it on the table. Teague picked it up, examining it closely.

The younger captain spoke up, breaking the awkward silence that had been settling like dust in the room. "I was hopin' you'd know some way or another to restore the thing."

The old captain set down the bottle. "Jack, there's only one way to get her out that I know of, but it's now impossible, thanks to Barbossa releasing Calypso."

"So they still haven't caught her?"

"Nope."

"Bugger," said Jack. "I wonder if Will would know. But even if he did, how would I contact him without dying or something? Ah well, only one way to find out."

"Don't you dare try to drown again."

"How'd you know? And that was not on purpose!"

"It's written all over your face."

"I don't remember writing that anywhere…" The prison dog tugged his sash. Looking down, Jack scolded him. When he looked back up, Captain Teague, Keeper of the Code, had disappeared.

"Not again!" Jack whined.

The next day, Jack searched the Drunken Lady for his first mate. When he was nowhere to be seen, Jack decided to sit down and have a drink. _I wish that bloody git would hurry up, _Jack thought. _Seems like everything's wrong unless you do it yersel'. Flipping idiot, what else can 'meet me at the Drunken Lady tomorrow' mean?_

When Jack finished his mental lecture of his first mate, he looked up to see Gibbs waiting by the door. Jack got up and walked (aka drunkenly staggered) to the door where he immediately started berating his mate while walking to the harbor. Gibbs asked, "Why are we going to the harbor when the only boat we had was smashed to smithereens on the other end of the cove?"

"Because we're borrowing the old captain's ship, savvy?"

"Oh."

They reached the harbor, where Jack started to search for something. _What are we looking for? _Gibbs wondered. His doubts were squashed when Jack called out, "Here we are, mate. The _Troubadour._ I served onboard under me dad as a lad."

The _Troubadour _was a huge, heavily armed, three-masted galleon. Jack unhesitatingly walked aboard the ship followed by a nervous Gibbs. They began to make ready for departure. Jack walked up and down the ship a few times, examining everything. Soon, the _Troubadour _was under way, and they sailed off to the open sea. Once out on the open sea, Jack dropped anchor and told Gibbs to get comfortable. Gibbs was a little concerned, but attempted to quash any doubts by reminding himself of Jack's unusual habits.

When sunset finally arrived, Jack got up and started to pace the decks, every so often checking on the position of the sun. As the sun dipped below the horizon, there was a green flash, and the _Flying Dutchman _broke the surface in all its glory. At the helm stood William Turner the Second, with his father beside him. Jack hailed the ship, shouting, "Oi! Over here, mate! No, not that way! Other way! Closer, closer… STOP BEFORE YOU CRUSH ME SHIP!"

Gibbs winced at the increasing volume of Jack's hollering, thinking to himself, _damn, that kid can shout._ The _Dutchman_ dropped anchor when it was board to board with the _Troubadour. _Jack swaggered to the rail and swung over the rail onto the other ship. The two captains greeted each other joyfully.

"Why Jack, I thought you were off hunting for the Fountain!"

"I already found it, you little eunuchy whelp! Why else do you think I'm here?"

"Umm, you wanted to visit me?"

"Guess again."

"Something's wrong with Elizabeth?"

"Nope."

"All right, I give up. Why _are _you here?"

"The _Pearl,_ mate."

"Figures. Last I heard, Barbossa was in command."

"Not anymore, mate. Not since his little, ahhh… encounter with Blackbeard."

"What encounter? Come to my cabin and fill me in on the recent events. Not too much news reaches the land of the dead."

"All right. I fill you in on recent ongoings and you tell me how to spring the _Pearl_ from its cage… er… bottle."

They headed towards Will's cabin. William 'Bootstrap Bill' Turner turned towards Gibbs. "Eunuchy whelp?"

"Um… it's a little joke between them. Don't mind him."

"Oh."

Will led Jack to his cabin, opened the door, and allowed Jack to enter.

"Nice cabin, mate," Jack commented. "I can only too well recall the previous, more tentacle-y owner and his attempts to place me in his Locker."

The cabin was furnished with a desk covered with various maps and navigational instruments, some chairs, a large bed, and a huge pipe organ with two keyboards.

Will indicated a chair. "Do sit down, Jack."

Resting his feet on the only clear space the desk offered, Jack said, "Where do you want me to start?"

"Your recent adventure or adventures concerning the Fountain up to about two minutes ago."

Jack immediately launched into a lengthy description of his adventures with more than a few 'additions' to make it more interesting, ending with: "Anyways, I haven't come to chitchat, I want to know how to save me lovely ship here," placing the _Black Pearl_ on the table.

Will picked it up, closely examining it. Suddenly, he flinched and nearly dropped the bottle in surprise.

Jack started. "Oi, be careful there, whelp! That's me vessel you're holdin'!"

"Sorry, Jack. The monkey surprised me."

"Bleaagh… Monkeys! That happens to almost everyone that looks at the bottle, William."

"So you want me to help you save the _Pearl,_ Jack. I know of several ways to free it, each of them more dangerous than the last. Are you willing to take that risk for your ship?"

"Who d'you think you are, whelp? I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, the one and only! Savvy?"

"Savvy. And will you stop calling me whelp?"

"Certainly not. Now are you going to reveal how to release me vessel or not? I'm getting impatient here."

"Aye, I will. The easiest (and most unimaginative) way to do this would be to smash the bottle and hope the ship doesn't break. Except you'd never let me do that, so you'll have to go find someone that knows voodoo, but since Tia Dalma got released by Barbie, that won't word either…."

"Just skip to the one that will work already! Whelp."

"Shut up, Jack. I'm getting there. What _can_ work is the riskiest. You must sail-"

"Sailing's not the problem."

"Will you just-! Anyways, I was saying, you must sail to the Sargasso Sea—"

"I've been there already and back, whelp."

"WILL YOU JUST SHUT THE BLOODY HELL UP? Anyways, Sargasso Sea, locate the Horn of the Goddess, and bring it to me. I'll tell you what's after that later."

"No. You will tell me what happens later _now_. No later, William. Savvy?"

"Savvy. Then, someone will have to learn how to use the thing, and then we will have to use it to contact Calypso and ask her help to release the _Pearl_. You may want to track down Barbossa and bring him with you when you find it. Savvy?"

"OI! That's MY catchphrase! Not yours! Whelp. And why do we need Barbossa?"

"Would you just—oh never mind, just go find the bloody thing. I've spent too much time talking with you."

With that, Will snapped his fingers and disappeared. Jack blinked, and all of a sudden he was back aboard the _Troubadour _with Gibbs. Without missing a beat, Jack said, "Well, that went well!"

"Gibbs."

"Aye, sir?"

"Turn the ship round an' head f' port."

"Aye, Cap'n, aye!"

Gibbs spun the wheel around, turning the ship back towards Shipwreck Cove. Within an hour, the _Troubadour _was docked at the pier. Jack casually walked, albeit drunkenly, off the ship. Once again, he told Gibbs to meet him at the Drunken Lady the next morning, and they went their separate ways; Jack went to his father's quarters while Gibbs went looking for an inn to board at.

Jack returned to his father's quarters with his usual smirk on his face. Walking up to the table where Captain Teague was playing guitar, he sat down across from the old pirate. Teague barely looked up when he heard his son walk in, and said, "So, I suppose you got Will to reveal a few secrets?"

His son looked up from his ship, suspicious. "How'd you know that?"

"I know, Jackie. Just leave it there."

Putting down the bottle containing the _Black Pearl_, Jack asked, "What do you know about the Horn of the Goddess?"

Teague looked up. "And why would you be needin' that particular object?"

"Um, obvious reasons? Will told me to find it so I can restore me _Pearl_."

"There be more ways than that to restore her."

"You said you only knew one way! 'Nyways apparently Will thought this would be the surest way."

"The Divae Cornu just happens to be hidden away on Isla Deriva, the Floating Island. No one knows where it drifts, but there are ways of finding it, like your magic compass there. Some say that certain sailors have found it while roaming the seas, but none ha' come back. The island will test you, Jackie. Mark my words."

"You said that last time, didn't you? Either way, consider them marked."

Just then, the prison dog barked, making Jack turn. Not seeing anything, he turned back only to discover that Captain Teague, Keeper of the Code, was gone. Jack glared at the dog, since it had distracted him yet again, giving his father another chance to make his exit before he could question him further.


	2. Aboard the Empress

AN: I wrote several chapters beforehand, so this is the second. Thank you, readers, and thanks Runt Thunderbelch, who helped me catch some errors to the first chapter. Anyways, happy reading!

**Chapter 2- Aboard the **_**Empress**_

Jack turned around to leave and nearly collided with Elizabeth Turner né Swann. The blonde pirate said, "Hello, Captain Sparrow. I haven't seen you since the War Against Piracy."

"'Ello, Liege. 'Hain't seen you either, though I did hear of the _Empress_. What are you doing here?"

"I was getting bored with raiding, and I had a feeling you'd be here. Where's the Keeper?"

"Disappeared like usual. He does that every time I see him. How's little Wills?"

"Asleep on the ship. Why don't you come visit us?"

"Aye, why not, luv? Lead on, your nibs."

Elizabeth, followed by her crew of Singaporean pirates and Jack, led the way to the _Empress_, the ship she had inherited from the late (and not too lamented) Sao Feng. The _Empress_ was a magnificent, three-masted Chinese junk. Jack was surprised to see Gibbs standing on the dock by the vessel.

"How'd Gibbs get there?" Jack asked.

"Oh. I ran into him looking for you and he told me where you were and said he'd wait at the dock."

The group boarded the _Empress_. Elizabeth turned to Tai Huang, her first mate, and ordered him to do something in Mandarin. Evidently, Tai Huang didn't like it, because he complained in his heavily accented English, saying (immaturely), "No! You do eet!"

Captain Turner rolled her eyes and yelled, "NUAN!" loud enough to be heard from below decks. Nuan came up to the captain and bowed.

"What do you wish of me, Captain Turner?" Nuan asked, bowing.

"Wake Wills up, I want him to meet his uncle, Captain Jack Sparrow."

Jack stared at Elizabeth in surprise. "Uncle Captain Jack Sparrow?"

"That's what I told him to call you after I told him the story."

"Story?"

"Jack Sparrow, you have got to be the daftest yet most brilliant pirate I've ever met. Of course I told him about the curse of the _Black Pearl_, how we (meaning you, me, and Will) found the Dead Man's Chest, the heart of Davey Jones, and fought in the War Against Piracy!"

"Oh yeah…heh heh… I wager you left out all the good parts."

"Liiiiike…?"

"When I was fighting Davy Jones atop the mast of the _Flying Dutchman._"

"Riiight." The captain rolled her eyes.

"No, seriously, I did. Ask Will if you don't believe me."

"And I would do that how, exactly?"

"Just sail out to the open seas and wait for sunset. If you're lucky, he'll come. Depends on him, really."

Just as Jack finished the sentence, Nuan came back leading a sleepy-eyed boy that looked almost exactly like Will. Elizabeth said, "Wills, this is your uncle, Captain Jack Sparrow. Why don't you say hi?"

Wills, as the little boy was nicknamed, immediately woke up when he heard the name of the infamous pirate. "You isn't pulling my leg, is you, Mum?"

Elizabeth laughed. "Why would I do that?" Turning to Jack, she said, "Presenting, William James Jack Turner the Third. We call him Wills for short."

"You named him after me?" Jack bent over. "'Ello, Wills," he said. "Remember me?"

Wills gave him a quizzical expression. "I don't remember meeting you anywhere!"

"Aye, that's 'cause you was such a wee thing then, whelpling."

"Oh. Mummy says you was trying to find the Fountain of Youth. Did you find it?"

Leaning backwards, Captain Jack Sparrow said, "You may kill me, but you may never insult me. Who am I?"

Wills laughed, saying, "You's Cap'n Jack Spawow!"

"The one and only, Wills. Now, why don't you show me around the ship?"

The small child obliged, dragging Jack below decks. Elizabeth watched them, wondering if she had made a mistake in allowing her four-year-old son to associate with a pirate that would probably teach him curse words more than anything. _But then again, if he wasn't immoral, he wouldn't be Jack Sparrow, would he? May as well let him._

Jack smiled at the little child who was bumbling around describing his mother's ship in his baby lisp. _He's just like his da, naïve, hardheaded, an'—_the captain's thoughts were cut off as Wills tugged his breeches to get his attention.

"Uncle Jack, will you teach me how to swordfight?"

"I'd love to whelpling, but I promised yer mum not to teach you anything without asking her first."

Wills pouted and said, "Mum said she'd teach me how to fence when I is older, an' now I is!"

The older pirate laughed and said, "Fine. I'll make a deal with you. I teach you how to handle a knife, which yer pa got from his pa, who gave it to me, so that you might have something of his, and you help me persuade your ma to let me borrow her ship for me next venture. Do we have an accord?"

"Aye, uncle! When do we start?"

"Later."

This statement irritated Wills to the point where he kicked the captain in the shin.

"Ouch! Bugger! Wha' was tha' for?"

Afternoon found Captains Sparrow and Turner (né Swann) in the cabin of the ship. Jack had just finished telling a heavily embellished version of his adventures. Wills was just sitting there soaking up the entire story, and Elizabeth was smiling at her son's profound admiration for the self-proclaimed legendary pirate.

"What brought you to Shipwreck Cove in the first place, Jack?" Elizabeth questioned her friend.

"The recent storm washed me up here, luv."

"I'm already married, you can't call me luv!"

"Pirate." Jack grinned.

"Get on with it. Why are you here?" said Elizabeth, cutting him off.

"To restore the _Pearl._ Weren't you paying attention?" Jack pouted.

"Oh. I suppose you are going to request the use and command of my flagship to sail to the Sargasso Sea to find the floating island and the Horn?"

"Took the words right outer me mouth, Liege."

"Well, first of all, who commands?"

"Me. Silly pirate!"

"Why should I trust you with my ship? I hold the higher position and _you_ happen to have been mutinied twice and I'd rather keep this ship."

"Because I have the headings and the compass and because I'm the elder captain here."

"Which means..?"

"I have more experience sailing and I actually know where to go."

"What are you proposing, Captain Sparrow?"

"What be accepting, Liege?"

"Your word on the pain of death and everything you consider holy that you will not let my son and my ship be destroyed or taken from me."

"Then we have an accord?"

"Yes. But first let's hear you swear, and no crossing your fingers!"

"I swear on the pain of death and everything I consider holy, which isn't much, that I will do my absolute best and nothing but my best not to destroy your ship or let your son get killed or captured." Jack said this with a very solemn face, and it was clear that he meant to keep his word this once. The two captains shook hands, and Elizabeth ordered Wills to go tell Tai Huang to prepare for departure. The little boy ran off, whooping at the top of his lungs, "WE'RE GOING ON AN ADVENTURE!"

Tai Huang groaned loudly and made a face, earning a stern glare from his formidable captain.

"Weigh anchor all hands; prepare to make sail!" Jack shouted in his slurred English. The crewmembers of the _Empress_ scurried to obey. When Jack turned around to check his compass one last time, he was startled to find that it was gone. Looking up, he was just in time to see someone duck behind the cover of the mizzenmast. The captain walked down the stairs and strolled casually over to the mizzenmast. "BOO!"

The stranger, who was looking the other way, jumped and in the blink of an eye, pulled out a pistol almost identical to Jack's silver-plated one, except it was in much better condition. She pointed it at Jack's face. Jack froze. "Relax, woman!"

Distracting the thief with one hand, he slowly pulled out his own pistol and pointed it at her. "Jus' relax, darlin'. Hand over the compass, now."

The woman glared defiantly. "Not giving it back, 'less you take me with you on your voyage, brother!"

Elizabeth, who had just come out of her cabin to see what was going on, saw the standoff. She was surprised to see that none of the crew had interfered. "Wait a minute. Did you just call him _brother_?"

"_Jackie_?" Shoving his pistol back in his sash, he tutted. "You always were the little kleptomaniac."

"Speak for yourself, Jack!" Jackie said, offended. "Who's the one who hijacked Dad's keys, stole the crew's money regularly, and made off with the cook's utensils?" This started a fierce debate on who stole more stuff.

Elizabeth sighed. "All right, both of you!" she yelled at the bickering siblings. "Shut up! Shut up by order of the Pirate King!"

The pair obliged, but continued to argue by making (some probably rude) gestures with their hands.

"GAH, BOTH OF YOU STOP ARGUING ALREADY! FOR GOD'S SAKE, YOU TWO JUST STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" Elizabeth's outburst was so loud that the entire crew froze and looked at her. "Everyone else but these two—"she gestured towards the two bickering siblings "—can keep doing what they were doing. You two, come with me!"

The siblings meekly followed the irate captain into her cabin. Shutting the door, she turned on the now-meek pirates. "All right, now, tell me, what is it between you? Jackie, give the compass back and explain what you are doing on my ship. Jack, I forbid you to interrupt!"

Jack pouted as his sister stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well? Are you goin' to give me compass back?" Jack tapped his foot on the floor.

"No!" Jackie clutched the compass harder.

"Jackie, give it back to your brother, _NOW!_"

"'Kay, 'kay!" Jackie handed the compass over to her elder brother, who tied it back onto one of his belts.

"Now, explain what you are doing on my ship! And no lies!" Elizabeth ordered.

"Aw, you're no fun!"

Jack looked like he was about to say something, but refrained as Elizabeth glared at him. The irate Captain Turner (ne Swann) beckoned for Jackie to continue. "Go on, Jackie. Tell us what you're here for."

"Getting into a fight with my dearly beloved brother, your nibs."

Elizabeth sighed with exasperation. It was one thing to have an annoying pirate captain aboard, but with said annoying pirate captain's sister also aboard, it was like living hell. She really wished she could slap Jack without setting off another fight. "Just tell me why you came aboard in the first place, Miss Sparrow." The captain made sure to put a lot of sarcasm in the 'Miss'.

"All right, I confess. It was my intention to steal Jack's compass, force him to take me aboard as crewmember, join his venture, and afterwards return to Shipwreck Cove, and raid, pillage, plunder and otherwise pilfer me weaselly black guts out. Savvy?"

"Yes. Now, do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?"

"Aye! Now where's the roster so I can sign it?"

Jack was more than a little surprised that Elizabeth actually accepted his sister as a crewmember, although he didn't show it. One Sparrow was capable of making the entire crew abandon ship, but two? Jackie signed the roster with a flourish before Elizabeth could change her mind. Jack tapped Elizabeth on the shoulder. "Can I talk now?"

"Not much stopping you from doing it, is there?" Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"Oh, not much, just a highly annoyed Pirate King and the fact that she forbade me from saying anything," Jack shot back. "Anyways, am I allowed to continue steering the bally ship, or are you going to do so yourself? We h'ain't got much time to do so, luv, bein' so near—" His words were cut off by an almighty _SLAP!_

Jackie glared at her brother. "_What_ did you just call her?"

"Ow! She's the bloody Pirate King, why would I be flirting with her?"

"Authority hasn't stopped you before, nor marriage."

"Well, I happen to know her husband very well as a friend, and also happen to know that said man is the_ bloody captain of the __**Flying Dutchman!**_" Jack glared at his sister and added, as an afterthought, "He's also Pirate Queen."

"_What. Did. You. Just. Call. Will?"_ The Pirate King ground out the words, one by one.

"What? It's true. If you're Pirate King, and he's married to you, than that would make him Pirate Queen!" Jack spoke words in an almost triumphant voice that made Jackie laugh.

By now, Elizabeth was so angry that a vein stood out on her forehead and she yelled, "GET TO YOUR STATIONS BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND AND KEELHAUL BOTH OF YOU FECKLESS INGRATES!" She also used some rather colorful curse words that I would rather not type.

The siblings left the cabin the second Elizabeth began yelling again. Jack hustled up the stairs, followed closely by Jackie. Taking the wheel from the helmsman, he set course for the Sargasso Sea. Once underway, the voyage went quickly. At least until they sighted a ship of the Royal Navy, that is.

"Oh bugger! Bugger bugger bugger _bugger_!" Jack yelled as he saw the flag of the ship. "Navy ship, hard to starboard! All hands, battle stations! Roll out the cannons! Oi, you there!" He pointed to a random deckhand. "Get the King up here and tell her it's an emergency! And _whatever you do, don't let Wills up here!_ Am I clear?"

The deckhand Jack had ordered to fetch Elizabeth did so. Soon Elizabeth was racing up the stairs, two at a time, to see what was going on. When Elizabeth came onto the upper deck, Jack saluted (sloppily) and barked out, "HMS _Century_ coming up hard to starboard! Look of her says battle, Liege!"

Elizabeth's eyes widened. "Lemme see!" She grabbed the telescope out of the lookout's hands. "Oh, (insert a series of 18th century cuss words)!" Looking at Jack, she inquired, "Did you happen to commit any serious crimes lately?"

"Aside from stealing a cream puff from King George the Second and commandeering a small ship, nope!"

"Tell the truth now. Did you or did you not do anything major recently?"

"I'm sayin' th' truth, now, Liege, on me honor as a pirate!"

"They're chasing you because you stole a creampuff from King George?"

"Apparently! Now I suggest you either raise the white flag o' parlay or embrace that oldest and noblest of pirate traditions."

"I'll go for the latter. Ready on the guns!" Elizabeth shouted.

Someone (probably Tai Huang) yelled back the Mandarin equivalent of "Guns ready!"

When the _Century_ finally sailed up to the starboard side of the _Empress_, Elizabeth shouted, "Open fire!"

The sounds of cannon blasts and wood breaking filled the air. Surprisingly, the _Century _made no attempt to return fire. After the first volley of cannonballs, Elizabeth shouted, "Cease fire!"

The crewmembers within sight of her stared. Any crewmembers not in sight looked at each other, wondering whether or not their captain had gone crazy, but obeyed. Jack stared at Elizabeth and enquired, "Why've you ordered them ta cease fire, eh?"

"I'm sure I heard someone yell 'parlay'!" Sure enough, just as the words left her mouth, a shout drifted over the wind. Some Navy officer yelled the word again. "Parlay! Parlay I say!"

The two captains glanced at each other. Apparently they came to an agreement with that glance, because Jack shouted, "Aye! Come aboard, no weapons, an' bring your highest-rankin' offisahs!"

What did the Royal Navy want with them?


	3. The Crew of the HMS Century

A/N: Woot! Third chapter is up! Yay! Thanks to my friend who encouraged me to do this (never would've posted this if it wasn't for her), and all those readers out there!

Disclaimer: You all know the drill, belongs to Disney, etc. etc.

**Chapter 3- The HMS **_**Century**_

Elizabeth retreated to her cabin, flanked by Jack and Jackie. The threesome talked over several plans of action, though Jack was all for making it up as they went along. Finally, the naval officers came aboard and entered the cabin. The foremost officer, a commodore, by the look of his hat, spoke first.

"We hereby arrest one Jack Sparrow on charges of piracy, arson, poaching, smuggling, kidnapping, impersonating, and grammatical murder! Men, clap 'im in irons!"

The other two officers made as if to handcuff Jack, but Jackie pulled out her pistol and pointed it at them. They froze. Elizabeth spoke. "Just how stupid do you think we are? And who the bloody hell are you?"

Commodore What's-his-face looked offended. "You don't know me? I am Commodore Groves, of Fort Charles."

"Groves? You wouldn't happen to have any relation to Lieutenant Theodore Groves?" Jack asked.

Commodore Groves looked surprised. "Yes, actually. He was my brother."

"And what would make the King have a sudden longing for my blood?" inquired Jack. "All I did was steal a creampuff from his royal nibs' table."

"The King has his own reasons," Groves said, though it was very clear he doubted his ruler's reasoning. "On second thought, he just got very irritated when none of the expedition he sent out returned and wants to know what happened."

"Well, you may tell him that one Hector Barbossa tore up his Letters of Marque and the Spaniards, mermaids, and Blackbeard's crew finished off the rest of the delightful party of incapable lobsters he sent out to find the Fountain of Youth. You may also tell him that that was the day he will always remember as the day his Royal Guard _almost_ caught Captain Jack Sparrow."

During this discourse, Jackie, Elizabeth, and the two lieutenants (who had apparently dealt with Jack before) that Commodore Groves brought rolled their eyes in part exasperation and part boredom. "All right, shut it! Now, Commodore Groves, you and your men will take leave of my ship. Tai Huang, Feng Ge, and Bai Jing! Get these three out of my sight! And plunder whatever valuables they're carrying!" Elizabeth said the last part in Chinese.

Tai Huang walked up to them with a grin to match a shark's, followed closely by Feng Ge and Bai Jing. The three Chinese crewmembers dragged the naval officers out of the cabin and proceeded to pilfer whatever valuables they had, which amounted to some loose change and gold pocket watches.

Once the officers were back aboard the HMS _Century_, Elizabeth sighed and sat down. Before long, the _Empress_ was shaken by several cannon blasts from the Navy vessel, knocking Elizabeth out of her chair and Jack and Jackie off their feet.

"Bugger! That'll leave a mark!" Jack and his sister then proceeded to shout orders to retaliate in between some very creative curses. If it weren't for the danger, Elizabeth would've laughed. Instead, she joined in with the orders and commands.

_BOOM! BOOM! CRAAAAACK! _That was the sound of the HMS _Century_ being fired at by the _Empress._ Unfortunately, they soon retaliated with military precision. Seeing that the battle was going badly for them, Jackie shouted, "PREPARE TO BOARD!"

Boarders grabbed ropes and got ready to swing across to the other ship, waiting for orders to board the ship. They didn't have to wait very long. Soon, the ring of cannon blasts, gunshots, and swords clashing filled the once-peaceful afternoon atmosphere.

Jack swung over to the _Century_ and knocked over a few marines. As he slashed away, Jack puzzled over how to stop the battle before the _Empress _was destroyed. The nearby Singaporean and Chinese boarders hacked and slashed their way through the melee, killing and wounding soldiers. Jack made his way below decks, thinking to disable their rudder chain. Unfortunately, an obstacle presented itself in the form of several marines. It didn't take very long to disable them and the rudder chain. Deed done, he turned around and found several very irritated-looking marines with rifles. Before they could shoot him full of holes, he yelled, "Look behind you!" and ran past them and back onto the upper deck before they could figure out what was going on. "All hands back to the _Empress_!" Just as the last syllable left his mouth, a marine slashed at him from the back, cutting a long wound from his right shoulder to his left hip, and proceeding to hit him over the head. Before he could deal further damage, a Singaporean pirate knocked him out from behind.

Meanwhile, aboard the _Empress_, Elizabeth and Jackie were supervising the gunners.

"Midship gunners, sight the masts!"

"FIRE AT WILL!"

When Jackie saw her brother flop onto the rail of the enemy vessel, seemingly lifeless, she abruptly dashed off. Jackie grabbed a rope and swung aboard, continuing to shout orders to the boarding crew to retreat to the _Empress_. Hacking and slashing and not really caring what she did to her enemies, Jackie worked her way over to the place where her brother lay. When she reached him, she just grabbed his limp arm, ignoring the blood soaking through her shirt, and tried to drag him over to a boarding rope. Failing utterly, she yelled in frustration, "ELIZABETH! GET YOUR ARSE OVER HERE!"

Elizabeth started, looking around for the source of the sound. Seeing Jackie standing on the enemy vessel's rail waving frantically jolted her into action. Giving orders to her hapless helmsman to hold the vessel in position until she came back, she seized a rope and swung over to where Jackie stood. Working in tandem, they each took hold of one of Jack's arms and the rope Elizabeth had swung over on. Jumping off, the threesome nearly caused the rope to snap, but made it back aboard the departing junk nevertheless. Tai Huang helped them over the rail, and beckoned to several crewmembers to assist in bringing the unconscious captain into the captain's quarters. Inside, Jackie and Elizabeth started the tedious process of bandaging Jack.

First, they had to strip off his blood-soaked and effectively ruined shirt and clean off the blood. Jack would have to borrow a shirt from Tai Huang or another crewmember since it was the only shirt he brought with him. Bandages and poultices were brought in by the ship's physician, who was busy seeing to the rest of the crew. The bayonet wound while long, was not very deep. They decided to stitch it up while Jack was still unconscious. That took a while, and by the time they finished, Jack was already stirring and moaning in his sleep. Poultices and bandages went on, and he was left to sleep in the bed, while Elizabeth and Jackie slept in hammocks nearby.

The next morning, Jack woke up to an ache on his back. He attempted to turn over, but a twinge of pain shot down the long wound, and he was limited to turning his head a little. Standing over him was his sister and Captain Swann.

"Ooooh… Wha' happened to me?" Jack mumbled through the pillow. "Feels like the Kraken got me back wif some of its teeth…"

"Oh, nothing. All I saw was you flopping over the rail, unconscious, with a long slash on your back, and a marine standing behind you. Then me n' 'Elizabeth had to swing over and drag you back. We nearly fell into the ocean coming over. Tai Huang helped us back on, and we had to stitch your back up. That whole series of events has effectively ruined your nice "Desiderata" tattoo." Jackie replied with a lot of sarcasm.

"Oh. Well, why is it I have a headache when the last time I had rum was yesterday morning? Something's wrong with this picture, Izzy, and I'd be much obliged if you'd get me some rum."

"Izzy?" Jackie repeated, staring at the place where Elizabeth had just been standing.

"I only call her that to annoy her."

"Good job, because she is irritated enough to be seriously considering keelhauling you if you don't shut up."

"Tha's a cheerful thought." Jack tried to sit up, but was pushed back into the mattress.

"You shouldn't be getting up just yet. That wound is still oozing a little blood, and I don't want those stitches to burst," Elizabeth said as she handed Jack a bottle of rum. "How are you going to drink that with your face smashed into your pillow anyways?"

"Oh. I forgot that you two weren't going to be letting me sit up anytime soon. Do either of you happen to have a straw?"

"What does this look like to you, a bar? We don't have straws!" Elizabeth said, exasperated.

"Well then, I'll just have to bloody lie here and hang onto the bottle until you let me sit up to drink it. Where are we headed?"

Elizabeth was about to answer when Nuan knocked on the door. The pirate captain got up and answered it. "Yes?" Elizabeth stuck her head out the door.

The intruder, or in this case, intruders, turned out to be Nuan and Wills. "I'm sorry, captain. He insisted on coming up to see what you were doing."

Wills toddled over to the bed where Jackie was sitting next to her brother, whose face was still smashed into the pillow. "Who's she, Mama?"

Jackie smiled, and picked Wills up, coddling him. "Is he yours, Captain Swann? Don't answer that, because I already know the answer. Oh, you little dearie, you've got your mother's face, though I can see your papa in there too. How old are you?"

"I's four!" Wills held up four fingers and a thumb. Jackie chuckled, tucking Wills' thumb in and correcting his mistake.

The little scene was interrupted by Jack. "'Nyways, as I was sayin', Izzy, what course are we set on?"

"The same one you set for the Sargasso Sea."

"Ah, that one! Where's my compass? Just so I can check."

"Here." Jackie handed over the compass.

Jack flipped the top of the compass open with practiced ease. At first the needle spun wildly, but soon settled in one direction- almost due north, the same direction the ship was going.

"Jack, exactly how large is the Sargasso Sea?" Elizabeth asked, a little concerned.

"Unless I miss me guess, it's about twice the size of the Caribbean."

"And exactly how large is this island we're searching for?"

"About the same size as the island of the Pelegostos, luv. You remember? The one where we nearly got eaten?"

Elizabeth was clearly puzzled, not recalling any cannibal islands. "You recall I didn't join your crew until you arrived at Tortuga, don't you Jack?"

"Oh, yeah, now you say that, I do. Remember what you said? 'I'm here to find the man I love', wasn't it? That was a more than a little creepy, especially since you disguised yourself so well."

Jackie looked puzzled as the two captains broke into chuckles. "Did I miss something?"

"Did I ever tell you how I met Elizabeth and William? Not Wills, but his da." Jack queried.

"Obviously, you didn't, else ways, I'd be laughing with you."

"Well, I'll tell you. It was about seven years ago, counting the time I spent in the Locker. Ten years before that, I'd lost the _Pearl_ to Barbossa, so I commandeered Anamaria's dinghy, the _Jolly Mon_, and sailed into Port Royal standing on the crow's nest, since most of the boat was underwater. Needless to say, I'd come to Port Royal in hopes of commandeering a Navy vessel. The _Interceptor,_ to be specific. Well, I landed there, bribed the harbormaster with three shillings to not reveal me name, and strolled over to where the _Interceptor_ was docked. Two marines, I believe their names were Murtogg and Mullroy, though I didn't know it at the time, blocked my path. To cut a long story somewhat shorter, I ended up aboard the _Interceptor _telling stories to those two imbeciles, when all of a sudden; Izzy here fell off the ramparts of Fort Charles. Neither of those imbecilic excuses for marines could swim, so I gave them me effects with instructions not to lose them, and dived after Izzy. When I'd finally managed to swim back o'er with her, the marines carried her onto the dock. Izzy wasn't breathing, so I cut off her corset—"Jack was interrupted by his sister.

"Excuse me? You cut off her corset?" Jackie looked at Elizabeth, who was almost blushing.

"I was wearing my shift under it, and he did do that," the governor's daughter turned pirate protested.

"'Nyways, as I was sayin', I cut off her corset and she started coughing up water. At that moment, bloody Norrington, who'd just been made Commodore of Fort Charles, arrived on scene with his marines. They clapped me in irons, despite me rescuin' Izzy and her protests. As soon as the irons were on, I grabbed Izzy in a chokehold, and negotiated the return of me effects. Izzy put them on f' me. Then, I shoved her into the Commodore and escaped! Didn't last long, though, 'cause the bloody whelp, Will, happened to come into the smithy just as I'd broken free of the chains. The whelp had a grudge against me f' threatening his bonny lass, Izzy, and got me into a duel. Nearly had him, 'cept for his drunken master smashing a rum bottle over me head and stunning me. That's basically how I met them. How I came to know them is a story for another day." Jack finished his story with a true orator's skill. "Now I don't suppose you'll allow me to sit up to drink me rum? Thirsty work, is storytellin'."

'Izzy' sighed, and complied by helping Jack sit up, careful to avoid irritating the wound. Despite her carefulness, Jack still winced when he finally sat up. He took a long swig of the amber liquid and declared it good stuff. Jackie stole the bottle and swigged the rest of the bottle.

Elizabeth got up, saying, "I should check on the crew. Jackie, d'you want to come?"

Jackie leapt up, dumping Wills onto the floor. "Oh, bugger! Sorry Wills!"

The child glared up at her with an expression to match the devil's.


	4. The Sargasso Sea

A/N: Sorry it took so long! School started. I hope I'm not going too fast with this story. Again, thanks to FrostDrop for betareading this for me, and to my readers for reviewing. Thank FrostDrop for this chapter, because she was the one who kicked me into writing.

Disclaimer: "I know what I want, I know what I want!" That would be ownership of Pirates of the Caribbean.

**Chapter 4- The Sargasso Sea**

A few weeks later, the _Empress_ docked in the pirate port of Tortuga for repairs and supplies. The journey there was uneventful for the most part, aside from a single storm that had delayed them by several hours. Jack's wound sealed up, thanks to the combined efforts of Gibbs and Elizabeth's ship's surgeon.

"Oi, stoppit!" Jack yelped as Scarlett and Giselle made to slap him again. He'd just walked into the same room, and they'd already started to slap him. Jackie wasn't any help, all she was doing was standing next to him and laughing.

"Shall we?" Scarlett asked, while aiming another blow at his right cheek. Jack dodged with practiced ease and was almost immediately forced to duck again when Giselle's right hand came whooshing down with the intent of hitting his left cheek.

"'Ey, sis! A little help here?" the beleaguered pirate whined for the fifth time. Jackie sighed, and said, "Only if you promise to shut up for the rest of the day. Do we have an accord?"

"Agreed!" Jack yelped before she could demand more. Finally, Jackie interceded on his behalf and got the two wenches to engage in a nice bit of chat. Jack took advantage of this to steal some shillings and buy himself some rum. The bartender was a large man with a larger voice. He bellowed, "Hey, ya owe me twenty shillings from the last time you were here, Sparrow!"

"Captain Sparrow, if you please. And I already paid you back!"

"No ya didn't!"

"Yes I did!"

"Oh wait, ya did. 'Pologies. Here's yer rum."

"Thanks." Jack bobbed the man a short bow with both palms together, something he'd picked up years ago in Singapore.

He wandered around, looking for a seat. After looking through the whole tavern without finding a completely unoccupied table, he decided to just sit down at the table with an old man that appeared to be in a trance of some sort. Or he could be sleeping with his eyes open. Whichever it was, Jack sat down across from him. The man's eyes snapped into focus, and he almost shouted, "Who's there?"

Jack jumped, almost spilling his mug of rum down his front while at the same time almost spritzing the rum in his mouth over the man. He hacked and choked for a minute before croaking, "Captain Sparrow, pleased to meet you!"

"You seek the drifting island." It was not a question.

"Aye," Jack said, slightly confused, but after years of dealing with eldritch and mystical things, he'd almost gotten used to it.

The old man's next words sounded to be a poem or riddle of some sort.

"As night falls, watch the sun rise,

As you see me, so you see you.

When you look close, find the true lies,

Deathbird seeks what you will find.

Between the root of all roots,

Where every fear sinks away,

Are the stairs with no bottom,

Unless eyes find sun's ray.

Through brown mist stone arrows point,

To where the ladybugs rest.

A supper to be placed,

In the great spider's nest.

As you seek, so will you find,

A treasure from the sea,

A ring of the horn, a sea of thorns,

Great deeds to do of thee."

Jack stared. He'd never heard anything like that before, in all his considerable experience with mystical things. The man didn't respond to any questions he asked, so he gave up, finished his rum, and returned to the _Empress_, still wondering about what he'd heard.

Elizabeth and Jack were driving the remainder of the crew hard at the repairing efforts. Half the crew was assigned to properly plugging the holes on the starboard side, and the other half was assigned to do the same on the port side. Gibbs and Tai Huang were overseeing the procedures, while Feng Ge was in charge of ordering provisions, ammunition, and other supplies.

Finally, the ship was properly repaired and the cargo hold filled with all manner of useful items, not the least being gunpowder and ammunition. The pirate crew sailed out of Tortuga and into the unknown. Well, at least it was unknown to everyone on the ship but Jack and his sister. After a week or so of sailing, a crewmember spotted the first masses of sargassum seaweed.

"Here the adventure starts, mates, so get ready," Jack commented to his King, who was busy admiring the unusually clear waters of the Sargasso Sea.

"It's so pretty... How could this beautiful place be considered dangerous?" Elizabeth wondered.

"Well now luv, you mus' remember that the places of greatest beauty are also places of great danger. Take Florida. Gorgeous place, but riddled with malaria, crocodiles, and extremely dangerous myths that happen to be true." Elizabeth was forced to admit that Jack was right.

"True, but what exactly is so dangerous about this place? It looks so calm and peaceful. And look at the water! So clear!"

Jackie interrupted Elizabeth's little rapture. "The fact that this place is renowned for leaving sailors without a breeze to sail with, the huge mats of seaweed can trap ships with shallow drafts, and there are practically zero currents inside this place. Some say that Time slows down here, and that it slows down so much that Roman triremes are still floating through here, their crews long dead." She thought a while. "Not to mention that the drifting island has magical defenses."

Elizabeth's face fell. "Oh," she said, while Jack laughed and Gibbs just smiled wanly (he seemed to be trying to convince himself that none of it was true).

*** time passes ***

"Nunky Jack! You said you teaches me how to fence when I's older, an' now I is!" Wills complained. Due to the steady insistence of his mother, Jack had to keep denying Wills.

"You never finished your end of the bargain. All you did was play around. I was doing all the persuasion!"

"I did too!"

"You did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did neither!" said Elizabeth, cutting into the argument. "Jack, you may teach him how to use the knife Will gave me. Otherwise, nothing! Am I clear?"

"Inescapably clear."

"Wills?" Elizabeth prompted her son.

"Aye, Mum!"

Jack held out his hand for the knife. "No use teaching without the tools, eh?"

Elizabeth hesitated to hand it over. Jackie walked in on them, saying, "I'll help. Use my Sgian Dhu. It'll do for a while."

"Your what?" Elizabeth asked, puzzled.

Jackie showed her a small knife she kept hidden in her boot. "Looks like a kitchen knife to me," said Elizabeth.

"Actually, that's the same general type of knife that was used to cut out William's heart." Jackie said.

"You've never seen it, though," said Elizabeth. "Not to my knowledge, anyways."

"Yes I have. I pinched it off you." Jackie smirked.

"How dare you! Give it back!" Elizabeth said indignantly.

"Nope. Young Wills is using it for his knife lessons. Later he can use my dirk." Jackie pulled out a blade that was neither sword nor dagger from a sheath belted to her waist. It had a blade about a foot long and a black leather hilt. The crosstree was covered with small designs etched into the metal.

Wills was no longer paying attention. He'd started dancing around the deck, singing triumphantly. Gibbs tripped over him while heading for the bow of the ship. "Oi! Bloody hell! Ouch! What's gotten into the lad?" Seeing Jackie with her dirk still unsheathed and laughing, he made a guess. "Lemme think. Ya offered to teach him how to fence?"

"We didn't offer, he insisted!"

"Bloody hell." A few more profanities fell from the lips of the grizzled first mate. "Whose idea was it to tell him that? The lad's a bloody safety hazard."

"His," Elizabeth and Jackie said, simultaneously pointing at Jack.

"It was not!" Jack said, sounding more like a whiny kid than a fearsome pirate captain. "It was him who brought up the subject first! And how come you always lay the blame on me?" He glared at the two women, who were heroically trying to keep a straight face.

The first mate would've sighed, but after years of dealing with his crazy captain, he knew this was perfectly normal. By now, Wills had completed his dancing circuit of the ship and was trying in vain to snatch the knife away from Jackie, who was absently jerking it out of reach every time the toddler jumped for it. Finally, she gave in and Wills learned how to use a Sgian Dhu that day, and learned well.

*** Time Passes ***

"What _is _that?" Elizabeth asked as the _Empress_ slowly approached a huge bank of sinister white fog.

"The fogbank. The island's near," Jack said. "And drawin' us in."

"How's that?"

"You'll see." Jack left to start shouting orders to the crew to reef all sails but the topgallants. As soon as the orders were fulfilled, he gave orders for everyone to make themselves some earplugs out of candlewax that he'd included in the provisions, including himself and the captain.

"All hands belowdecks!" came his next order, as the ship slipped into the fog.

Elizabeth grabbed his arm as he started to walk back to the wheel of the ship. "Where are you going? What's going to happen?"

"Nothin', luv. Just going to make sure of a few things." Jack answered, between whispered conversations with his sister.

Jack hurried back up to the ship's wheel. _Earplugs, check, _Jack thought, as he inserted a pair into his ears. _Rope, check._ He noticed a strange silhouette in the fog. _Strange sights, check._ The shape moved. _Please don't tell me that's a…_

His thoughts were confirmed as he heard a low keening song. The earplugs blocked out most of it, but the song and its pull was still there, trying to lure the siren's victims off the ship where they would be killed and eaten, not necessarily in that order. _I hope the crew's not hearing anythin'. _ [At least, that's what I wish he'd been thinking. What he really thought was along the lines of the eighteenth-century equivalent of "Oh, #$%!"]

The siren continued singing. As the _Empress _finally sailed out of the fogbank and the siren song died into the distance, Jack secured the anchor and went below to tell the rest of the crew that they could come out. Well, more like they _needed_ to come out, because the fogbank with its siren-song traps was only the first of the trials. Now the ship was in view of the island, but the problem was, the island really _was_ drifting. It floated a good way off the surface of the ocean.

Did I mention it _also _floated over the eye of a hurricane?


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five- Into the Storm

**_A/N: Thank you for being (somewhat) patient, readers! Be very grateful to FrostDrop and Thalia Grace-Pinecone Face for this update! Please keep in mind that this is my first attempt at writing any fanfiction._**

Jack secured the wheel as quickly as he could, and then rushed below decks to tell Elizabeth what happened. The crew immediately suspected something was wrong, and started to get nervous and talk among themselves. Elizabeth got particularly irritable.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY, CAPTAIN SPARROW? THE ISLAND IS FLOATING THREE HUNDRED FEET ABOVE OUR HEADS, ABOVE THE EYE OF A HURRICANE NO LESS? I SWEAR, AS SOON AS WE ARE OUT OF THIS FIX, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU DEAD AND THEN KILL YOU SOME MORE!"

[Okay, "irritable" is a large, overweight, understatement.]

Jack cowered above the companionway as Elizabeth ranted at him, cursing and screaming bloody murder through the opening. He was sure that if he got any closer to the opening, he'd be shot full of bullets, or gored on the end of Elizabeth's rather nice Chinese straight sword. As he waited for her to simmer down, he looked back into the fogbank and instantly regretted it, because he was suddenly seized with the strangest sensation of being watched. He turned back around to see a (still) very angry (but slightly calmer, emphasis on _slightly_) Elizabeth (who apparently did not trust herself with her weapons at the moment as her gun and sword were not with her), a laughing Jackie (who, like any sibling, tends to laugh at her sibling's pain/misfortunes), and a very excited Wills (I mean, what little kid _doesn't _get excited about random things?).

"Well? Do you know how to get through it and up to the island?" Elizabeth asked, rather impatiently.

"If I did, we would be in motion already," Jack said, just barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes at her.

"Huwwicane? Wazza huwwicane?" Wills inquired curiously. "I wanna see da huwwicane."

Elizabeth was about to explain what a hurricane was to Wills when the _Empress_ jerked into motion and started sailing straight into the hurricane.

"What's going on, sir? Why is the ship moving?" asked Gibbs.

"Haven't the slightest idea," Jack said breezily.

Elizabeth started to seriously consider why she ever made an agreement with this utterly unpredictable pirate. Jackie started to seriously consider whether or not to restrain Elizabeth while she was distracted in case she decided to do away with the Pirate Lord of the Caribbean without giving him a chance to pass along the title to someone.

"You broke our accord! You _said _you would do your best to keep this ship and all aboard safe! YOU BLOODY PROMISED!"

"Ah, but only _to the best of my ability_. There's ne'er a guarantee of safety when it comes ta' eldritch dealin's. You of all people should know tha', seein' how they've affected you."

He had struck a nerve. Elizabeth turned away, suddenly seeming much older than her twenty-some years. "Fine. Just get us to the island, get the Horn, and get us out. Safely," she snapped.

At that moment, some random crewmember started screaming in Chinese, which roughly translated to "AAAAAAAGH! THE SHIP IS FLYING! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!"

Another sailor, much older than the first, screamed, "I'M NOT, BUT I STILL DON'T WANNA!"

It was true. The bottom of the ship had already left the ocean. Pretty much the entire crew started to panic, including Gibbs, who was fervently crossing himself and muttering what could be possibly classified as prayers. As the ship floated higher and higher, it drifted closer to the island, which meant it was _also _drifted closer to the hurricane. The crew panicked even more.

"REEF THE SAILS! SECURE THE CARGO! AND YOURSELVES!" Topmen, sailors who had the responsibility of handling the highest sails, swarmed up the masts to reef the sails before they could be blown away in the storm. The rest of crew rushed to tie everything down (especially the cannons, which have a nasty habit of smashing through the hull of a ship when not firmly tied to something), including themselves with and to anything that happened to be around. Even the noodles that some of them had been eating for lunch. The _Empress_ entered the hurricane just as Elizabeth secured Wills in her cabin and herself. High-speed winds and rain nearly tore the air out of their throats and soaked them to the skin as they endured the tremendous force that was the hurricane. Several sailors, who hadn't found anything to tie themselves down with but noodles, were torn away from the ship into the hurricane, where they presumably met a gruesome fate of having their limbs torn off, or whatever it is that a hurricane does to people unlucky enough to be caught in one.

Finally the prow bumped gently into the island. As soon as the hull touched the beach, the hurricane below vanished and was replaced by a calm sea. The crew took a few moments to admire the beautiful scenery. A lovely beach of undisturbed, fine white sand dotted here and there with the occasional rock, shell, or palm tree was the first thing to admire. The beach then faded into a lush green forest (also filled with who knows what, but no one thought about that).

"How the bloody _hell _did that happen?" Jackie asked.

Shrug.

Shrug.

Bizarre seizure/fit thingamabobber. (From Wills, who obviously does not know how to shrug well, or at all.)

"Secure the mooring lines!" The order rang out, and crewmen scrambled left and right to unsecure themselves and secure heavy ropes in the soft sand. Noting that the sun was already dipping below the horizon, the three captains organized a group of sailors to stand guard overnight in shifts. None of the men noticed the bright, glowing eyes watching them from the trees, or the small flurries of movement across the sand.


	6. The Beginning of the Riddle

**Chapter 6- The Beginning of the Riddle**

Hey, did I mention that the small flurries of movement across the sand were just normal sand crabs? I didn't? My bad. Sorry for messing with your minds. I'll try not to do it again. Maybe. Probably. Perhaps. Anyways, back to the story…

Jack yawned and stretched as the ship's bell woke him up. It was morning, and time to get exploring. He dressed quickly and walked out on deck still fiddling with his baldric and pistols. Gibbs was already up and about, shaking awake any sailor who wasn't and giving orders to the few that were on watch to go to bed (or should I say hammock?). Elizabeth and Jackie were most likely still asleep, so he knocked on the cabin door, at first quietly, then hammering nearly loud enough to wake the dead. A tap on the shoulder made him pause and turn around. The two women were already fully dressed and ready for an expedition.

"The door was unlocked, you know," Elizabeth said, opening it. "Although I do appreciate you not barging into my cabin. It's quite an improvement since the time you ripped off my corset."

Jackie laughed. "If we want to find anything before nightfall, we should get going. Are you all set?"

"No. Just got up, as a matter of fact."

"Well, you have FIVE MINUTES to decide who and what you're going to bring with you, and _don't _bring our whole rum supply!"

"I wasn't going to," Jack said. He turned around, about to walk away, but paused and spun around again. "But now y' mentions it, that's not a bad idea. What about half the rum supply?"

"No. Four minutes!"

"… Fine."

They left the ship at midmorning, leaving Tai Huang in charge and Wills still complaining about not being able to come with the exploration party, constituting of Jack, Elizabeth, Jackie, Gibbs (much to the his chagrin), and nearly three-fourths of the crew of _Empress_. First, the group would split up into three smaller groups, each led by Jack, Elizabeth, or Jackie. The groups would then search the island until they found something. If a group needed help, two shots in rapid succession would be fired into the air (but quite honestly, if the situation was that desperate, the sound of the row would probably carry pretty far) and for any discoveries, a single shot. The idea was that the shots would signal to the other parties to head in that direction until the entire party was together.

It wasn't until late afternoon that anyone found anything; in this case, Gibbs found a large piece of strange translucent rock with unusual carvings on it. Taller and wider than the largest man present, it wasn't very thick. There was also a pretty much normal granite base to hold it up and keep it from falling over in a strong wind. As agreed, a single shot was fired. The other parties didn't arrive at the spot until sunset, and by then, the stone had turned a beautiful shade of orange because of the dying glow of the sun. Jack had already examined every inch of the rock and every inch of the ground around it within a fifty-yard diameter, as did Elizabeth and Jackie, to no avail. Finally, they took a break, building a small camp not far from the rock. Just as the sun was almost totally sunk beneath the horizon, leaving behind the faintest rays, Jack took one last look at the rock and jumped in shock. The carvings formed a glowing image of the sun, which seemed to rise up as the sun slipped over the horizon.

"Bloody hell! Look at that!" Jack shouted. Everyone's heads turned towards him, and the crystal.

"What? I don't see anything," Jackie said.

"Are you hallucinating again?" Elizabeth asked, confused.

"The crystal! Don't tell me you can't see the carvings! THEY'RE MOVING!"

Everyone stared at Jack, totally confused. Gibbs was now certain that Jack had lost his mind for sure. He walked up to Jack, saying "Are you all right, cap'n?"

As soon as he was right behind Jack's left shoulder, he saw the illusion as well. "So _that's _what you were looking at."

"Finally, someone sees it too!" Jack rolled his eyes. "Master Gibbs, stay _RIGHT THERE _and _DON'T _move if you want to survive th' night. Me good self will investigate further." He walked closer to the rock, breaking his view of the illusion.

"Wha'….? It's gone!" Jack scratched his head in confusion.

Gibbs spoke up. "I c'n still see it. The sun's right at the top of the thing now."

Jackie had a flash of understanding. "Jack, step back to where you were earlier." When Jack turned around and gave her a confused look (boy, there's a lot of confusion in this chapter), she snapped, "Just do it!"

The captain obliged. "I see it again! But why?"

Then Elizabeth understood too. "When you stand in a certain area, right where you and Gibbs are standing, the carvings will seem to form the image of a sun. It gives the illusion of movement because the sun lights up certain lines as it sets. Do any of you have any idea what to do with this before the illusion ends?"

"Aye, and so I can move freely without worryin' about bein' shot?" Gibbs chipped in. He was still standing stock… still (? No pun intended) in the same place and was getting impatient.

It was now Jack's turn to have a flash of understanding. He suddenly remembered something that had happened in Tortuga, but had a little trouble remembering exactly what. Just then, Gibbs started to hum a sea shanty to pass the time. Apparently that did the trick, and the poem wandered back into Jack's conscious mind. "I think I remember something that happened in Tortuga."

Jackie rolled her eyes. "It's a wonder you remember anything. Forget three sheets into the wind, you were closer to nine."

"No, 'fore that. Some old man just started blabbing this poem. He knew about all this somehow, and tried to give me a hint, but I've gone an' forgotten the bloody thing!" Jack proceeded to pace in a circle around Gibbs (who just happened to be standing at the center point). "Something about the sunset… Bloody hell, if only I could remember what it was!" He threw up his hands in frustration, hitting Gibbs in the eye.

"YOWCH! Bloody hell, lad!"

"Oh, me 'pologies." Jack continued to tread an endless circle. "What is it wi' bloody riddles and sunset and sunrise?"

And that's when it hit him. Literally. Jackie walked over and smacked him hard on the back because she was bored and it was getting way too quiet. It must have jogged something in his brain, because he started to remember the rest of the poem.

"Someone get me writing implements!" No one reacted, so Jack added, "NOW, YA FECKLESS INGRATES!"

That did the trick, and writing implements were given to him. He started jotting down the following in messy handwriting.

"As night falls, watch the sun rise,

As you see me, so you see you.

When you look close, find the true lies,

Deathbird seeks what you will find.

Between the root of all roots,

Where every fear sinks away,

Are the stairs with no bottom,

Unless eyes find sun's ray.

Through brown mist stone arrows point,

To where the ladybugs rest.

A supper to be placed,

In the great spider's nest.

As you seek, so will you find,

A treasure from the sea,

A ring of the horn, a sea of thorns,

Great deeds to do of thee."

Jackie glanced at it, scanning all the way to the bottom. "Your handwriting hasn't improved. But that 'as you see me, so you see you' part sounds like a mirror." Elizabeth, who also read it, agreed.

Gibbs, _still _standing in the exact same spot he was standing in ten minutes ago, finally spoke up. "Hey, I think somethin's happening to the base!"

Everyone looked up at the base. Part of it was sliding aside to reveal a shiny surface. Elizabeth went to investigate. The shiny surface turned out to be a mirror. She looked closely at the mirror, and noticed something strange about the reflection. In the mirror, she counted twenty-two crewmen. When she turned around and looked at the actual scene, there were only twenty-one. She also noticed that Jackie seemed to be walking away, towards the camp in the mirror image, only to look up and see the very same person approaching. "I've found two of the 'true lies', how many do you think there are?"

"Don't know, why ask me? It was my dearly beloved brother who heard the riddle in the first place." She gave Jack a pointed look.

"What? Don't look at me like I know the answer, 'cause I don't!"

Elizabeth sighed, thinking, _here we go again! _"We'll just have keep looking until we can't find anything. Until then, both of you come and help!"

"_Now_ can I move?" Gibbs (poor guy) was STILL standing in the same spot. Jack waved his hand impatiently.

"Aye, go ahead. Tell the crew to be ready to leave at a moment's notice!"

Gibbs sighed and relaxed, extremely relieved to be able to move (not the least reason being the need to pump the bilges). He started to relay orders and the crew complied. Meanwhile, Jack, Elizabeth, and Jackie crowded around the mirror. The 'true lies' included wrong colors, things that didn't exist in the real scene but were portrayed in the mirror, and vice versa. Finally, they found the last of the lies, although none of them knew that until the whole structure started to sink underground. The three captains stumbled backwards in shock, tripping over the rim of the hole. Jack, who recovered from the initial surprise of having the ground underfoot suddenly sink, peeped over the edge and watched the entire structure sink. As if it wasn't weird enough, the sides of the hole revealed a winding stair made of granite leading down, down, down, far below the ground.

"What is it wi' meself and weird?" Jack complained, waving his arms in a general Jack Sparrow gesture. "Gibbs, have some lamps readied! We're going into the hole!"

Suddenly, a deep, hollow voice echoed from the cavern. "Only five may come down into the Cavern of the Horn. Choose well, for a wrong choice now may be your downfall later."

**Author here. Sorry I haven't had an AN for a while. I kept forgetting. I've always wondered where the bullet goes if you shoot it into the air. Won't it fall back down after a while and kill anyone unfortunate enough to be standing under it? This chapter is for one of my friends' birthday! Try not to die anytime soon! 8D Finally, a longish chapter to make up for the shortness of the previous! Reviews help the writing process (cough cough).**

**Oh, right. I don't not not not not own the characters and all that stuff. You don't not not not know the drill.**

**_Edit: Thanks to a reviewer (for some reason I can't find you on ) for noticing a small mistake! I encourage reviewers to give some constructive criticism!_  
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